Earlier today, ComingSoon.net had a chance to sit down with three-time UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture to talk about his role in the upcoming Universal DVD prequel The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior and he told us a little about Mandrake, the movie version of Lee Falk's comic character Mandrake the Magician (created way back in the mid-'30s) to which Couture has been attached as a mysterious character named "Jed."

The film was delayed due to the writers strike, but he was hopeful that it would get back on track soon. "It's been reset, and I think now I think they're waiting for the dust to settle with the Olympics in China, 'cause most of the movie is shot in China," he told us. "I'm attached to play a U.S. agent that's intricately wound up into the plot of the movie."

"I'm not familiar with the comics at all," he admitted. "I'd never heard of them until after I've read for the part in the movie, and then I said, 'Oh, this is based on a comic book character' so I had to go back and look at it then. It reminded me a lot of Chris Angel and some of the stuff that he does in his persona a little bit."

It obviously sounds like they're going for a more modern version of the character if that's the case. Currently, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is slated to play the lead character to be directed by Chuck Russell, who directed The Mask and the original "Scorpion King" movie. (See how that all works out?)